Meaning and normativity of Jerusalem Council’s prohibitions in relation to textual variants of Acts 15:20.29 and Acts 21:25. An analysis and comparison of early interpretations (2nd-5th Century)

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Abstract

The thesis collects and analyses the very first (2nd-5th century) clear
quotations, references and interpretations of Acts 15:20.29 and Acts 21:25. It
consists of three parts: Part I, which is introductory in nature, presents and
comments upon the textual variants of these biblical verses. Part II
catalogues and analyses all the relevant texts referring to and commenting
on Acts 15:20.29 and Acts 21:25. The purpose is to discover each ancient
author’s understanding of the Jerusalem Council’s prohibitions, enumerated
in the above verses of Acts. The writers and their texts are divided into three
groups depending on which main textual variant of Acts 15:20.29 and Acts
21:25 they referred or quote. Part III presents in its first two chapters a
synthesis of the above analyses, juxtaposing and summarizing early authors’
views on the meaning and normativity of the prohibitions. Then, the last
chapter examines the potential influence of a variant of Acts 15:20.29 and
21:25 quoted or referred to (or preferred if more variants were known to a
given author) by the writers on their understanding of the prohibitions. The
thesis shows that despite different textual variants used by the early writers,
their interpretations of the prohibitions, although often superficially different,
have in a number of cases and on a deeper level more in common than one
would preliminarily surmise.